Brothers: Javier and Skyler have been chosen to search Farith City after an attack. The city is nothing but a cloud of dust and miles of crumbled buildings. Set out, Skyler goes in search for anyone alive, while Javier stays put... but, he isn't alone....

Zooming over
the parts of rubble, dust picking up from behind came the
'Star-Line'; a thin narrow craft. The craft itself looked like it
had been through a war zone, dents, bumps, marks, even one or two
bullet holes. There were red markings on the 'Star-Line' The
markings zigzagged along the wings and on the tail, the body however
was dull, silver in colour. It had its headlights on, although one
light kept blinking and the other was completely gone. In the
cockpit, there were only two seats… and really only enough room for
two seats. They were placed one in front of the other, both looked
like they were falling apart. Scratch marks covered them, padding
sticking out in a few places.

Sitting in the back seat was a
male in his late twenties. His hair was brown, spiky on the top with
the odd blue bead placed in, right down to the end of the root, there
were around about sixteen of this beads, oddly placed, though there
was no purpose to this at all. When open, his eyes were dark blue,
almost matching the colour of the beads. He was of medium build, very
strong, firm cheek bones and a handsome smile. Light stubble grew
along the bottom of his jaw and joined at his chin, then when up to
his lower lip. The man was not one to play with, an old scar was seen
clear as day, laying on his head, just above his ear, going up a good
four inches. This man went by the name of Javier.

In front of Javier sat a male,
slightly younger; mid twenties, the same shade of hair, just not as
wild and out of place; thick, yet controlled. He was also a smaller
build, where as Javier's chest and shoulders were something not to
shame, this male was thinner, and a much lighter frame. His eyes just
slightly a lighter tone of blue, softer to look at. Skyler was the
males name. He held the double-handed control, which had control of
Star-Line. The cockpit was alive with a large number of
switches; some had dim lights flickering under them.

Both sets of eyes were scanning
below for any signs of life. Below them was a destroyed city. Nothing
as far as the eye could see but ruins, wreckage and the remains of
all of the poor souls that had been caught; either shot to death…
or mauled by the look of it on some of the bodies, or infact horribly
beaten down and crushed by the large chunks of buildings that lay
shattered over the earth.

"Ready to land her?" Javier
asked, but only received a nod from his brother. "Sky? Oi, you
listening?"

"Yes… I am, but, I am just
looking. Is nothing showing up?"

"Nought, little guy, nought."
Javier said, taking a glance at a radar that beeped quietly, scanning
the area below, "No signs of life, I mean, look around you, I could
have told you that." Giving off a heavy sigh, Skyler flew Star-Line
lower to the rubble. "Careful!" Javier snapped, "You're a bit
low."

"You're not the only one in
our family whom can fly."

"I know, Father can, and I can."
Javier grinned, reaching forwards he ruffled his little brothers
hair. "Dad never said anything about you flying though!" he
almost shouted through a laugh, then patted Skyler on the shoulder,
making him dart the craft off to the left.

"Sit back!" Skyler called,
"Get off!" he muttered. "Damn it…" There was a bang under
Star-Line that jolted them both back in their old chairs.

"Sky! You hit something! You
stupid tit!"

Blinking very slowly, Skyler
pulled the control back, Star-Line moved up away from the
rubble, turning to the right a little. "Well you knocked me…"
he stated, but didn't have the courage to look back at Javier.

"Whatever, I'm telling Dad,
you know? Though… could have been worst, I mean, when we left you
nearly hit the tail-end of the bloody captains ship… All of space
and you almost lose me my job."

Yes, it was true, this was
Skyler's first time flying, but, in his own mind, he wasn't doing
that bad, truth be told, he thought he was doing fairly well. There
was, after all, no real damage to Star-Line, right? No warning
signs had gone off, no flashing lights, nor messages shouting.

"Take her down." Javier told
him, "I'll leave you to land on your own, find a place to put her
safely, I don't want to stay here too long. I don't care whom we
are looking for, there is no-one here alive, Sky, why build your
hopes up?"

"Hope is all we have here."

"It's wasted then."

Choosing to ignore this, Skyler
brought Star-Line up, then turned slightly to the left,
flicking a few switches down. A creaking came, three legs lowered
themselves out; underneath Star-Line, two at the back and one
at the front, dust rose up quickly as the craft came down, softly
bouncing when the legs touched the ground.

"Little bumpy, eh?" Teased
Javier.

Skyler rolled his eyes, "Something
called suspension…"

Once the dust had settled, the
thick glass lifted up, opening the cockpit. Through most of the dust
had settled, it was still very hard to breathe, the air was dirty,
heavy. Skyler pulled himself out of the craft and walked forwards,
yanking up a little of his shirts collar to cover his mouth and nose
with.

"Don't go too far." Javier
called, making no attempt to move himself from his chair. He lose
sight of Skyler within just a few moments, but wasn't worried,
turning his head, the radar was still beeping, one white dot moving
away from the craft; Skyler.

Time ticked by slowly, Javier was
slipping into sleep again, a deep yawn leaving him as he folded his
arms behind his head. His eyes closed and gave out a soft sigh.
Drifting in and out of sleep, noticing every time his eyes half
opened that Skyler hadn't returned, he groaned, turning to rest on
his side in his old chair. "Damn little brother." he whispered,
shaking his head slightly before once again drifting into sleep.

Beep… Beep… Beep, beep,
beep, beep!

Waking, Javier turned to face the
radar quickly at the sound of the beeping, he frowned, "Sky?" he
asked, looking at the radar as it scanned, a white dot was getting
closer and closer to Star-Line. "Sky?" Javier asked again,
"Brother, this isn't funny, bloody talk to me."

But no answer came to him, just
the faint sound of heavy breathing. Sitting bolt up right in his
chair, Javier glanced at the radar as another white spot appeared on
the screen. His eyes grew wider, "Hell no…" he said, but the
words wouldn't have been heard by no-one. The first white spot had
stopped, but the second was coming up from the left, getting closer
and closer, Javier turned his head to the side to see the faint
outline of a hunched over creature, around six foot tall, four thick
legs and a heavy head, low to the ground, a long snout. Spikes shot
up from the back of this creature, bursting through the skin along
its spine. A rattling noise came from its throat.

"Oh shit." Javier whispered.
Still not moving his body yet, Javier sit firmly in his chair.
Wishing the beast to turn, the rattling came again, then a high
pitched scream left the ugly creature and it whipped its tail up, a
spike in the tip. Javier stared, then scrambled into the seat as the
creature bolted forwards towards Star-Line. Flicking switches,
Javier raced his arms about, until the engine was heard starting, he
was too late to pull the glass hatch down though, the creature leapt
for him. Diving from the craft, Javier hit the ground hard, rolling
to his back, the creature had crashed right into the hatch, luckily,
not smashing it was heard, but it gave out another scream.

Unclipping his gun from his belt,
Javier pulled himself to his feet and took up the gun, his finger
closed on the trigger four times, over and over again. His eyes
looking up to the creatures two shinning black ones. It crawled back
at the pelt of the bullets upon it's chest, tar-like blood rolled
from its body, dripping to the ground. As it moved back, Javier came
forwards, "Get back!" he yelled at it, "Back!" he ordered.
Sending off two more rounds at it, aiming for its head, but getting
its shoulder and neck. A rattling was heard and Javier shot his head
to the left, another outline was seen, another one of the beasts.

His heart dropped, but he forced
himself into the craft as the bleeding creature retreated slightly,
crawling at its own chest from the pain and after sting of the
bullets. "Come on, Girl…" Javier called, yanking back on the
double handed control, not even fully in the craft yet. Gasping as
she craft shot up into the air, the second creature had rammed
forwards, jumping up as Star-Line had left the ground, it's
front claws clinging to the ship until Javier rounded his gun, the
creature screamed out and sank its teeth into Javier's forearm,
Star-Line's nose was yanked down as the creature pulled at
his arm, Javier nearly let go of the control. Crying out in pain, he
held on strong, but fired the gun three times into the head of the
creature, listening to it as it once again called out, but
thankfully, it released its jaws. Giving a loud gasp, Javier let the
gun fall to the floor of the craft as he, himself fell into the front
chair.

His deep eyes looked at his arm.
Blood covered it though, Closing his eyes for a short while, he drew
in another deep breath. "God." he whispered, sitting up in the
chair, the blood dripped all over the switches. Flickering the lights
on, Javier snapped his head back to look at the radar, it wasn't
giving off a good signal though. "Sky?" he said slowly, looking
forwards again, trying to see down through the layers of dust and
dirt. His wound stung, but, he had to find his brother. Taking a hold
of the control, he flicked another switch up, the legs of Star-line
rose up, folding away.

With his crimson covered hand,
Javier took up the radio and held down a button on it. "Star-Line
56-29 reporting. The city has truly fallen." he spoke through
gritted teeth. "I'm missing Skyler as he went in search. Upon
landing, I stayed in the craft, I've just been attacked by two
Strashes. They came from no-where, radar only picked them up at the
last minute." he said slowly. Javier let go of the button, lowering
the radio as his arm hurt to hold it.

A faint crackling noise came
through, then an unclear voice. "Star-Line, do you need a back-up
crew? Set a search?"

"No." Javier said simply. "I'm
finding my brother and coming home. I want you to set a search
on Captain Ellis, I need to speak to him… And trust me, if I find
out my brother has been ripped to pieces by the Strash, I'll be
coming to Ellis for more than a talk." he warned, a cold tone in
his voice. Putting the radio down now, Javier frowned heavily,
"Bastard almost cost me my life!" he said madly to himself.

"But, revenge will all come in
time." Javier added. "For now-" he paused and looked below at
the settling dust. "I have to find Sky…" he said lowly. His
eyes watching hopelessly for signs of life as Star-Line moved
on through the dull city.

The radar when soundless.
No-longer any white dots, beeping, and it was now that Javier felt
ever so alone.

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